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News Release

Last modified: Wednesday, January 23, 2013

IU Bloomington ranked 45th in the world for campus sustainability

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jan. 23, 2013

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University Bloomington has been ranked 45th in the world in campus sustainability by the University of Indonesia's 2012 GreenMetric World University Ranking.

Launched in 2010, the GreenMetric initiative compares universities worldwide through surveys based on sustainability indicators, including energy and water use, waste management, transportation and education. The project highlights the role of universities in combating global climate change and promoting environmentally sound practices.

"IU Bloomington's commitment to sustainability involves both stewardship of our environmental resources and excellence in environmental studies," said IU Provost and Executive Vice President Lauren Robel.

"Through our Office of Sustainability, we have dedicated ourselves to responsible environmental practices. Academically, our highly ranked School of Public and Environmental Affairs, our new School of Public Health's Department of Environmental Health and our new, interdisciplinary Integrated Program in the Environment are examples of the leadership our faculty is providing. It is gratifying to see these efforts receiving international recognition through the GreenMetric initiative."

The GreenMetric ranking serves to gauge the campus's performance on a variety of academic, operations and administrative measures, each of which are given a numerical score. According to the University of Indonesia's website, its leaders "hope that the rankings will be useful to university leaders in their efforts to put in place eco-friendly policies and manage behavioral change among the academic community at their respective institutions."

"Indiana University Bloomington's commitment to campus sustainability is evident in our 2010 Campus Master Plan and the recently approved Integrated Energy Master Plan," said Tom Morrison, vice president of capital planning and facilities. "As those plans are implemented, IU Bloomington's leadership in campus sustainability will continue to be reflected in metrics like this one."

The University of Indonesia's international survey allows IU Bloomington to compare itself to institutions in nearly 50 countries including the U.K., Japan, China, Germany and Australia. The University of Connecticut accrued top honors in the 2012 ranking, followed by the University of Notthingham in the U.K., and University College Cork National University of Ireland. IU Bloomington ranked 11th among U.S. institutions.

This was the campus's first year participating in the survey. Its response was coordinated by SPEA Masters of Public Affairs student Alexandra Aznar as part of her IU Office of Sustainability student sustainability internship.

"We are pleased to be ranked in the top 50 in the world by GreenMetric as we move toward our vision of becoming an international leader in campus sustainability," said Bill Brown, IU Bloomington's director of sustainability.

In August, IU Bloomington was ranked among the top 50 "greenest schools in the U.S." by the Sierra Club. In April, it was included in Princeton Review's Guide to Green Colleges, scoring 96 out of 99 possible points in its metric. In 2011, IU Bloomington became the seventh institution to earn a rating (silver) in the Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Rating System or STARS. Over 200 institutions have since reported their performance using this comprehensive campus sustainability metric.

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